[MLG] Winter Season featuring Heart of the Swarm

MLGSC2

United States7 Posts

January 31 2013 16:59 GMT

StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm™ Featured in MLG Winter Season – Details Revealed

We are excited to announce that Blizzard Entertainment’s highly anticipated StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm™ is featured in the MLG Winter Season via two invite-only competitions:

Online Winter Season Showdowns - Broadcast starts Monday, February 4 at 5pm ET
Exhibition Tournament at the Pro Circuit Winter Championship in Dallas, Texas: March 15 – 17

Online Winter Season Showdowns
The invite-only, Winter Season Showdowns features 56 of the top StarCraft II players in the world playing StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm before it is released to the public on March 12.
From Monday, February 4 through Friday, March 8, each weeknight, and select Sundays, at 22:00 GMT (+00:00), MLG will broadcast one Showdown at www.majorleaguegaming.com and www.twitch.tv/team/MLG. The complete broadcast schedule is available here.
The 28 players who win their Showdowns will advance to an invite-only, exhibition tournament at the Winter Championship.

Exhibition Tournament at the Winter Championship
The Winter Championship in Dallas, Texas, from March 15-17 will include an invite-only, 32-player, StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm exhibition tournament just days after the game is released. The 28 players who win their Winter Season Showdowns will join the top four ( (Z)

Life,

Leenock,

Flash,

Bomber) from the MLG 2012 Fall Championship to compete in a single elimination bracket for $75,000 and a first place prize of $25,000.

All matches will be broadcast via two streams. Additional details about all events will be released in the coming weeks.

Note: the Winter Championship will not include an open-bracket tournament for Starcraft II.

Additional Details

Winter Season Showdowns Overview
+ Show Spoiler +

56 of the world’s best StarCraft II players will compete in 1 Showdown Match each, playing StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm before it is released to the public on March 12.

Format: Invite-Only online matches; Winner takes all, Best of five games

Broadcast: February 4 –March 8: 28 Matches, 28 Days broadcast each weekday at 5pm ET and select Sundays online and Twitch. Schedule below and online.

Prize: The 28 winners will receive placement at the Winter Championship in Dallas from March 15-17 where they will compete with Life, Leenock, Flash and Bomber.

Winter Season Showdowns Broadcast Schedule
+ Show Spoiler +

All Broadcasts begin at 5pm ET online and on Twitch.tv. Schedule below and online.

Monday, 2/4: Parting vs Fantasy
Tuesday, 2/5: Roro vs Hero
Wednesday, 2/6: Innovation vs Ty
Thursday, 2/7: Soulkey vs Last
Friday, 2/8: Rain vs Flying
Sunday, 2/10: Sase vs Snute
Monday, 2/11: Nerchio vs BabyKnight
Tuesday, 2/12: Stephano vs Titan
Wednesday, 2/13: Mana vs Bly
Thursday, 2/14: Socke vs Thorzain
Friday, 2/15: Ret vs Feast

Broadcast dates for the following matchups will be announced soon:

Grubby vs Dimaga
Sen vs Moonglade
MC vs Alive
Taeja vs Violet
Hero vs Polt
Creator vs Nestea
Mvp vs Curious
Sniper vs Seed
MarineKing vs Gumiho
DongRaeGu vs Jjakji
Scarlett vs Goswser
Idra vs Ddoro
Fenix vs State
Vibe vs Illusion
Suppy vs Maker
Killer vs Qxc
Huk vs Sasquatch

Winter Season Showdowns Players and Matchups
+ Show Spoiler +

KESPA (5) - 10 KESPA players competing for 5 spots
Parting vs. Fantasy
Rain vs. Flying
Innovation vs. TY
Roro vs. Hero
Soulkey vs. Last

ESF (5) - 10 ESF players competing for 5 spots
DongRaeGu vs. Jjakji
MarineKing vs Gumiho
Mvp vs Curious
Creator vs Nestea
Sniper vs Seed

Independent/Western (3) - 6 Western+ Independent Korean players competing for 3 spots
MC vs Alive
Hero vs Polt
Taeja vs Violet

North America (7) - 14 NA players competing for 7 spots
Killer vs Qxc
Huk vs Sasquatch
Scarlett vs Goswser
Idra vs Ddoro
Suppy vs Maker
Fenix vs State
Vibe vs Illusion

Europe (7) - 14 EU players competing for 7 spots
Stephano vs Titan
Nerchio vs BabyKnight
Mana vs Bly
Grubby vs Dimaga
Socke vs Thorzain
Ret vs Feast
Sase vs Snute

Southeast Asia (1) - 2 SEA players competing for 1 spot
Sen vs Moonglade

Winter Season Map Pool
+ Show Spoiler +

Akilon Wastes
Bifrost
Cloud Kingdom
Daybreak
Entombed Valley
Korhal City
Newkirk City
Ohana
Planet S
Star Station
Whirlwind

Note: In each Showdown, both Players will veto three Maps. The Map Pool will be trimmed down to seven for the Exhibition Tournament at the Winter Championship.

Exhibition Tournament at the MLG Winter Championship
+ Show Spoiler +

Dates: March 15 - 17

Format: Invite-only, exhibition tournament (no open bracket) with all matches taking place on the main stage and one feature station.

32-Player Single Elimination Bracket (Bo5s & 7s) featuring:

28 Players from Winter Season Showdowns
Life, Leenock, Flash, Bomber - Top 4 Players from 2012 Fall Championship

Prizes: $75,000 total
1st = $25,000
2nd = $15,000
3rd = $9,000
4th = $6,000
5th = $3,000 (4 Players)
9th = $1,000 (8 Players)

Broadcast: 31 Matches, 3 Days - all matches will be broadcast via two streams

Full details available here.

Demonhunter04

1530 Posts

January 31 2013 17:02 GMT

MLG Winter starts Feb 4 and ends March 12? Isn't that spring?

hoby2000

United States918 Posts

January 31 2013 17:04 GMT

On February 01 2013 02:02 Demonhunter04 wrote:
MLG Winter starts Feb 4 and ends March 12? Isn't that spring?

This is normal. They tend to do their championships at the very end of the season of whatever it's for. Spring will be in June, summer in September, and fall in november, maybe beginning of december.

mrRoflpwn

United States2618 Posts

January 31 2013 17:05 GMT

Hmm, interesting format, but its so biased to making already popular player even more popular

Yhamm

France7248 Posts

January 31 2013 17:07 GMT

how were the showdown done? random?
Fantasy vs Parting
Ret vs Feast
Stephano vs Titan
etc

quite unfair for some players

edit: sorry, it is explained here : http://www.majorleaguegaming.com/competitions/55#event_140_winter-season-showdown-players

mrRoflpwn

United States2618 Posts

January 31 2013 17:09 GMT

On February 01 2013 02:07 Yhamm wrote:
how were the showdown done? random?
Fantasy vs Parting
Ret vs Feast
Stephano vs Titan
etc

quite unfair for some players

Its pretty obvious that they want a bunch of foreigners in so people watch. Pretty biased competition imo

MLG_Adam

United States994 Posts

January 31 2013 17:11 GMT

On February 01 2013 02:09 mrRoflpwn wrote:

Show nested quote +

Its pretty obvious that they want a bunch of foreigners in so people watch. Pretty biased competition imo

It is clearly mapped out in the main story, regional qualification:
KESPA (5) - 10 KESPA players competing for 5 spots

Parting vs. Fantasy
Rain vs. Flying
Innovation vs. TY
Roro vs. Hero
Soulkey vs. Last

ESF (5) - 10 ESF players competing for 5 spots

DongRaeGu vs. Jjakji
MarineKing vs Gumiho
Mvp vs Curious
Creator vs Nestea
Sniper vs Seed

Independent/Western (3) - 6 Western+ Independent Korean players competing for 3 spots

MC vs Alive
Hero vs Polt
Taeja vs Violet

North America (7) - 14 NA players competing for 7 spots

Killer vs Qxc
Huk vs Sasquatch
Scarlett vs Goswser
Idra vs Ddoro
Suppy vs Maker
Fenix vs State
Vibe vs Illusion

Europe (7) - 14 EU players competing for 7 spots

Stephano vs Titan
Nerchio vs BabyKnight
Mana vs Bly
Grubby vs Dimaga
Socke vs Thorzain
Ret vs Feast
Sase vs Snute

Southeast Asia (1) - 2 SEA players competing for 1 spot

Sen vs Moonglade

SkaPunk

United States471 Posts

January 31 2013 17:12 GMT

Don't really want to watch it if there are no open brackets.

VirgilSC2

United States6151 Posts

January 31 2013 17:13 GMT

On February 01 2013 02:09 mrRoflpwn wrote:

Show nested quote +

Its pretty obvious that they want a bunch of foreigners in so people watch. Pretty biased competition imo

The selection criteria alone was quite biased in my opinion.

Players like IEM Champion (T)

WW.Sting couldn't get an invite while players like retired (Z)

exQuantic-Hawk did.

EDIT: I think it's important to note that it's completely reasonable to set the invitation criteria to "Most Popular" but at least it should be noted as "Most Popular" and not "Best"

kju

6143 Posts

January 31 2013 17:14 GMT

#10

pretty disappointing but I didn't expect anything else from MLG

IPL picked it up at least

MyFirstProbe

Netherlands294 Posts

January 31 2013 17:15 GMT

#11

I think I will watch it, despite there being no open bracket. An open bracket would be a bit pointless anyway imo, since not that many players will have practiced much, due to this event being just after release and not everyone having beta acces.
Edit: It feels weird, seeing parting among the kespa players.

BronzeKnee

United States5217 Posts

January 31 2013 17:15 GMT

#12

On February 01 2013 02:12 SkaPunk wrote:
Don't really want to watch it if there are no open brackets.

Yeah me too... this replacement of the open bracket is... well nothing really replaced it.

BisuDagger

Bisutopia19229 Posts

January 31 2013 17:15 GMT

#13

On February 01 2013 02:11 MLG_Adam wrote:

Show nested quote +

It is clearly mapped out in the main story, regional qualification:
+ Show Spoiler +

KESPA (5) - 10 KESPA players competing for 5 spots

Parting vs. Fantasy
Rain vs. Flying
Innovation vs. TY
Roro vs. Hero
Soulkey vs. Last

ESF (5) - 10 ESF players competing for 5 spots

DongRaeGu vs. Jjakji
MarineKing vs Gumiho
Mvp vs Curious
Creator vs Nestea
Sniper vs Seed

Independent/Western (3) - 6 Western+ Independent Korean players competing for 3 spots

MC vs Alive
Hero vs Polt
Taeja vs Violet

North America (7) - 14 NA players competing for 7 spots

Killer vs Qxc
Huk vs Sasquatch
Scarlett vs Goswser
Idra vs Ddoro
Suppy vs Maker
Fenix vs State
Vibe vs Illusion

Europe (7) - 14 EU players competing for 7 spots

Stephano vs Titan
Nerchio vs BabyKnight
Mana vs Bly
Grubby vs Dimaga
Socke vs Thorzain
Ret vs Feast
Sase vs Snute

Southeast Asia (1) - 2 SEA players competing for 1 spot

Sen vs Moonglade

There's always going to be people who don't take the time to understand the information available or just choose to hate for no reason. Thankfully Adam is always awesome at replying to these post in good manner.

OT: Can't wait to watch this!

KiF1rE

United States964 Posts

January 31 2013 17:16 GMT

#14

How is the showdown thing based on HOTS accomplishments? How many of those players have won a tournament or broke rank 2 GM in HOTS? As ive done both(granted small tournament but w/e there isnt much atm MLG is the first big event for it lol)... Just seems like claiming " top StarCraft II players in the world based on recent performances playing StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm" is kind of flawed and its just a sheer invitational everyone that's popular or did well in MLG with WoL with that player list.

regardless was expecting for some form of announcement to make up for the lack of open bracket, And as a competitor what is my Gold membership now useful for? As clearly I cant compete or sign up for anything now... making my gold relatively useless.

Arevall

Sweden1133 Posts

January 31 2013 17:16 GMT

#15

I'll watch it. Will be some great matches!

Gladiator6

Sweden7024 Posts

January 31 2013 17:17 GMT

#16

PartinG vs Fantasy o_O

Vindicare605

United States16056 Posts

January 31 2013 17:17 GMT

#17

I'm not sure beta is in a good enough place balance wise for a major tournament yet although the championship will of course be played when the game is actually on live servers.

It's going to be exciting though that's for sure but there's guaranteed to be some frustrating games played as well. The volatility is bound to be high for a tournament like this.

AGIANTSMURF

United States1232 Posts

January 31 2013 17:17 GMT

#18

I hope this is a one time thing somehow related to HOTS just being released, Following the open brackets was always my favorite part of the MLG, even if I wasnt participating.

I may check this one out, but looking forward to future events with open brackets

avilo

United States4100 Posts

January 31 2013 17:18 GMT

#19

Invite only, hmm. Looks like IPL will be taking up the mantle of a tournament that wants "e-sports to make it."

This invite only bullshit gets old fast. This will stay a niche thing if organizations try and go this invite only route for "quick views" rather than actually building up the player base.

While me, and you here, and the hardcore might enjoy watching top koreans duke it out...guess what the outsider sees from their point of view?

"Oh yeah SC? I've heard of that, those asian guys play it a lot, same ones win all the time. Hey, there's a Raven's game this sunday, let's go see that."

Oh wells, we all heard IPL has an open bracket we can be interested in

PhoenixVoid

Canada32740 Posts

January 31 2013 17:19 GMT

#20

Seems a bit limited having only invites, but I guess it keeps the quality of players at a higher level. Some cool matches are in the wings though, so I'm definitely watching.

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